Cedars prevail in clash of unbeatens

The Warwick and Lebanon boys were the final two unbeatens atop the Section One standings, so sole possession of first place was at stake.

A five-game winning streak for the Warriors was also on the line against an up-tempo, athletic Cedar squad playing in their own gym.

Unfortunately, the fray became one-sided.

Lebanon shot a sizzling 58 percent (15-of-26) from the field in the first half, which coupled with 14 turnovers by the Warriors, was a recipe for a 48-33 Cedar lead at the break.

In the end, Shaquell Ortiz finished with a game-high 17 points, leading three players in double figures for the Lebanon boys, who cruised to a 79-56 Section One victory in Lebanon.

Warwick (2-1 L-L, 5-2 overall), which lost for the first time since suffering a 58-53 loss to Downingtown West in the Octorara Tip-Off opener, fell one game off the pace behind Lebanon (3-0, 4-2) heading into the seven-day Christmas break.

“We’re not 25 points behind them,” Warrior coach Chris Christensen said. “Like I just told our guys, we get to go again (against Lebanon Jan. 24) and it’s in our gym that time. But you’ve got to come out here on the road and toughen up and win some of these. You can’t just come out here and lay an egg and that’s what we did.”

Virtually all night, the Warriors found themselves trying to play catch-up, in large part due to back-to-back first-quarter treys, then a fastbreak layup by Shaak, sending Lebanon on a 10-0 burst.

“Number 20 (Shaak) can shoot, it’s in the scouting report, we walk out of the locker room and we don’t do it,” Christensen said. “We weren’t there. We knew he could shoot. And that’s it.”

Trailing 12-2 early, Warwick battled back, cutting it to 16-12 on a floater by Will Mobley, then 20-15 on the second of Ethan Price’s two first-quarter treys and and 19-16 when Bryan Rottkamp made the first of two free throws with :17.6 left in the period. Price led Warwick with 16 points and Alex Lalovic chipped in with 12.

But an 11-2 run, started by Shaak’s triple and capped by Ortiz’s three-point play, pushed the Cedars’ lead to 30-18 with 7:25 left in the half.

Making the prospects tougher for a Warrior comeback was that three starters were in first-half foul trouble, including leading scorer Lalovic, who picked up his third foul with 3:09 to go in the half.

The Cedars were 14-of-19 from the stripe in the opening 16 minutes and 19-of-27 for the game.

“We were fouling because we weren’t playing great defense — that’s what I thought,” Christensen said. “I think our help defense was atrocious. And every guy except for two didn’t get off the bus. You can’t come into a place with a team like that, that’s athletic and excited to play in their home gym and ready to go and obviously a good team.”

The lead for Lebanon eventually grew to as much as 46-28 on a layup by Khalique Washington with 1:25 remaining in the half, and the Cedars carried a 48-33 advantage into the locker room.

Lalovic, limited to two first-half points, knocked down three treys in the third quarter, the last of those coming with 3:58 remaining in the period which cut the Warriors’ deficit to 60-44.

Warwick, however, was never able to threaten from that point.

With the Warriors preparing for a break taking them to a Holiday Tournament game last night (Wednesday) against Spring Grove, they were welcoming the opportunity.

“I think we’re a little tired,” Christensen said. “We’ve been on a grind here for a little bit. Some guys are sick playing, some guys are beat up. This break couldn’t come at a better time. I just told them, ‘If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse and we’re not staying the same.’ So we’ve got to get in the gym, we’ve got to get back to practice, we’ve got to get back to doing what we do. We can’t come out there, especially against an athletic team, and not do the little stuff. Tonight, we didn’t do the little stuff at all.”

The Warwick boys return to league play next Tuesday, Jan. 3 at Hempfield and Christensen is confident that his players will bounce back.

“We’re better than that,” he said, “and I have no doubt these guys will regroup. We’re going to regroup, come back and be ready to play. Like I said, this break couldn’t come at a better time. I (told the players), ‘This isn’t the end of the world. We’re going to play bigger games the rest of this year.’ It’s game seven. So we’re just going to get back in the gym and get back to work.”